My mother swears that she’s just getting even with me. She says, “I told that one day you’d have a daughter just like you and you’d understand.” I think she’s rubbing it in. However, regardless of how smug my mother is feeling, I have a problem that I bet a lot of you mothers out there share: I’m fighting the fish oil fight with my vegetarian teen.

When she first started on this idea, I was pretty sure it was just a “kick.” I figured that I’d load her up with vitamins and supplements to make up for any malnourishment that she might develop thanks to her refusing to eat “anything with a face” anymore and that in a few months it would be over. However, turns out she’s serious about this – at least for now.

And I’m fine with her being vegetarian. In fact, many people find that it is a healthier choice than eating meat.

However, what I am not fine with is her decision to stop taking omega 3 fish oil. When she first started out, she just avoided red meat. Then came chicken, and finally seafood. However, she had no problem with the iron supplement, the daily vitamin and the omega 3 tablet that I insisted that she take since teens tend to eat pretty poorly, vegetarian or not. But this morning, I sat down at the table with my cup of coffee to learn that she no longer “feels good” about taking the fish oil and will be eating flax flakes instead to get her omega 3.

That’s not okay. Everyone knows (okay, I know because I researched it) that flax contains omega 3s, but not the kinds that our bodies can use! It’s not really very useful to load up on flax as an omega 3 supplement if those omega 3s are not even going to do you any good. The best source of omega 3s is salmon. Period. And I’m worried about my girl’s heart health, memory, stress levels and vision if she continues to refuse to take her salmon oil supplement. Even people who do eat meat need that type of supplement to fully fortify their bodies against the problems associated with omega 3 deficiencies.

I have to say, I’m worried about her. I’ve printed up the evidence, and I’m hoping she’ll agree that she needs that salmon oil. I’ll feel better once she’s “sucked it up” and swallowed today’s fish oil pill…

Learn about more reasons that salmon are the best source of omega 3’s at omega-3.us.